Depending on the fabric type, colored garments are prone to fading and color loss as a result of normal wear and laundering conditions, resulting in non-use of the garments and/or consumer dissatisfaction. Dark colors may be particularly susceptible to fading or loss of color. One means of restoring color to faded or worn fabrics is via the use of dyes. While dye compositions may be used to restore colored, faded or worn fabrics, such compositions generally require complex steps and are messy to use. Re-dying also requires color matching of the fabric, which can be difficult in many cases. Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide color restoration without the need for dyes.
Cationic polymers, at higher concentrations, generally do not formulate well with anionic surfactants due to their positive charge. Such polymers tend to interact with anionic surfactants, and thus, tend to form an unpourable, phase-separated mixture. Such mixtures are generally incompatible with consumer use.
As such, the use and formulation of compositions capable of providing a benefit to fabrics in a laundering process, which comprise higher levels of cationic polymers tends to be limited by formulation and stability concerns. Accordingly, there remains a need for compositions and/or methods by which cationic polymers can be delivered to a fabric to impart a benefit—such as a color care benefit—while avoiding the formulation problems described above.